Some time ago the Memsahib and I were watching something on TV and she made a comment about a young lady on screen having "Tigger B**bs" - I must have looked puzzled, because the explanation (with a big grin) was "Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, FunFunFunFunFun!"

I think that, in the big Lottery of Life, I have been quite fortunate.....

Zerogee

Clencher's Bogleman

Meanwhile, back on topic.... nice bit of modification there with the Maschinenhaus baseplate, Giz - and probably a lot easier than waiting for Bertram to send you a new one!

He is (in my experience) very good about sorting out any problems, when I picked up my pre-ordered little diesel kit from him at last year's Llanfair show I found it was missing several parts, but they were very quickly sent through to me direct from his workshop after a couple of emails, even though he was still over in the UK. I think he must have several full-time staff working on the architectural modelling side of his business, my guess would be that the railway modelling part of the business is very much a sideline as far as turnover is concerned.

Gizzy

Railways, Aviation, Caravanning....

Meanwhile, back on topic.... nice bit of modification there with the Maschinenhaus baseplate, Giz - and probably a lot easier than waiting for Bertram to send you a new one!

He is (in my experience) very good about sorting out any problems, when I picked up my pre-ordered little diesel kit from him at last year's Llanfair show I found it was missing several parts, but they were very quickly sent through to me direct from his workshop after a couple of emails, even though he was still over in the UK. I think he must have several full-time staff working on the architectural modelling side of his business, my guess would be that the railway modelling part of the business is very much a sideline as far as turnover is concerned.

John S

Registered

While delving into the inner workings of the MD mXion HDD stepper motor decoder as a means to use on an outstanding project for a self build turntable as an addition to a DCC automation module, did ponder and wonder if the stepper motor decoder I was already working on, it had been shelved due to time restraints, and was one of the projects I had earmarked for working on as part of a New Years resolution, could it be improved and maybe utilised for use with a Bertram Heyn stepper motor turntable.

Seems the basic theory would indeed work, much of the last week has been spent on making adjustments to the existing program coding, and searching for items that would make the construction easier, more details of this to follow, including a DCC interface, will break it down into, self build (cheapest, soldering required), kit of parts (medium cost and some soldering), off the shelf components (most expensive but minimal soldering required).

Either as a Arduino DCC decoder or Arduino manual control with push buttons for stop and direction CW or CCW, and rotary or joystick control to move the turntable.

Bertram Heyn also uses a DC motor for turntable control, revamping my existing self build DCC loco decoder, as a method of control, an economical option than purchasing an "M" decoder as suggested.

Parts and components are on order, as they appear will start to put together a how to guide.

Pictures below, working DCC stepper motor decoder, using a Hall sensor to find "home", using switch addresses for pre- programed exit points, the arrow keys on the Navigator are used as direction keys either for CW or CCW for rotation.

John S

Registered

For those who have been pondering around including a turntable whether it is one Bertram Heyn's or a self built idea, using either a stepper motor or a DC motor. The nature and design of the MD mXion HDD stepper motor decoder, at first glance can appear to be quite daunting with it's numerous setting up parameters.

The following are a good starting point for the few who have an enquiring nature, whether it be to explore the world of self built decoders for a turntable or other uses, or even for the construction of a DCC central station, for which that subject matter has been fully covered elsewhere on this Forum.

Install the Arduino Software (IDE) on Windows PCs, the (IDE) is also available for other operating systems.Arduino - Windows

Getting Started with Arduino UNO, deliberately chosen for reasons that it's readily available, easy to connect to, and has numerous "shields" available to plug directly on to it.Arduino - ArduinoUno

Installing Additional Arduino Libraries, required to enable the various "extras" needed to operate as a DCC decoder including the additions for a stepper motor.Arduino - Libraries

All the following are likely to available cheaper elsewhere, deliberately chose UK, easier to deal with if a problem occurs, there have been some issues of late with Far Eastern sourced items, could well catch the unwary out and lead to a great deal of frustration, plus it's also Chinese New Year, so most despatch dates will now not occur till around the 15th of Feb.

Use this as the search parameter in eBay, ARDUINO-UNO-R3-ATmega328P-ATmega16U2-Development-Board-with-USB-Cable-UK

mike

Moderator

The most important rule........... ITS MY RAILWAY, I WILL RUN WHAT I WANT, WHEN I WANT, HOW I WANT, AND IF YOU DONT LIKE IT..........Bugger Off your a hard person to ignoure, but well worth the effort! http://www.lazygrangebay.co.uk/